


Respect for the Sea

by LavenderTownsGhost



Category: Subnautica (Video Game)
Genre: Alien Flora & Fauna, Female!Player character, Gen, This Might Get Dark, Warnings may be updated, do the fish count as characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-04-16
Updated: 2016-11-26
Packaged: 2018-06-02 12:44:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6566755
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LavenderTownsGhost/pseuds/LavenderTownsGhost
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liyla is just another marine biologist aboard the terraforming ship, the Aurora. She's done this many times before, but having her ship crash land with no survivors is something new. Now she has to survive with only what she can scavenge from the water covered planet, and try to find a way to escape. Her only companion seems to be the ever sarcastic AI, but who knows what else lurks in the depths of the sea...</p><p>Perhaps she would have been better off dying on that ship.<br/>*ON HIATUS UNTIL THE GAME IS COMPLETE*</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prolouge

**Author's Note:**

> I know I'm terrible at staying with a fanfic, but this game has really drawn me in, and I started to build a little narrative in my head.  
> A little preface; I know the game is still in development, and things will change, but I'm going to stick as close to the game as I can. So no riding Reapers, and no Sea Emperor (yet).  
> (And yes I know the protag is male, but a female option is apparently in development so we'll just say this is her)

“I just don’t get why you’d be a Marine Biologist if you hate the ocean!”

Liyla rolled her eyes and looked up at her coworker. 

“Zackh, for the last time, I don’t hate the ocean. I respect it and know how powerful it can be, even back on Earth.”

He scoffed and looked down at Liyla as she pulled her flippers on. 

“What’s so powerful about it? It’s a giant bathtub filled with dumb fish.”

“Hey, those ‘dumb fish’ are the reason I’m here.”

She finished putting on her flippers and stood up.

“How do I look?”

“Fabulous,” Zackh said completely deadpanned. “Why did you get your suit on again? We’re not going to reach the planet for a while.”

The AI chimed in, “Approaching planet 4546B. Approximate time to landing: one hour, thirty-five minutes.”

“Thank you Ali,” Liyla said up to the speaker.

To Zackh she replied, “I wanted to make sure everything fit. Last time I did this they messed up the sizes. Took me forever messing with the fabricator to break it all down, then remake it in the right size.”

“Sure, ok. Did you just call the AI ‘Ali’?” Zackh questioned.

“Yeah, she has a lot more personality then the other AIs I’ve dealt with, so it felt right to name her.”

“Liyla, it’s a computer program. Whatever personality you think it has is just whatever the programmer decided to put in. It’s no more sentient than the fish down there.”

“Tell that to the crew of the Degasi,” Liyla muttered.

Zackh suddenly grew serious.

“Don’t tell me you’re one of those conspiracy theorist nuts. I thought you were a scientist.”

“I am a scientist. And I know that despite what the Torgaljin Corporation says, there’s no way the Degasi could have been hit by a meteor and gotten completely obliterated.”

Zackh crossed his arms and glared at her.

“Please, enlighten me.”

Liyla stood up to her full height, glaring right back at the geologist.

“For starters, any meteor big enough to completely destroy a ship that size would easily be picked up by radar. Even if they somehow managed to get hit, the fact that there was absolutely no contact, not even a remote distress signal, is incredibly odd. Plus, there were no recon ships. We’re the first ship since they went down.”

“Yeah, so clearly some mermaid launched a rocket at the ship and ate the survivors.”

“Well, there are no sentient species on the few land mases, so technically the dominant species could be aquatic.”

Zackh threw his hands up in the air.

“You’ve been to how many planets, and yet you still think there’s going to be some ‘E.T.’ out there.”

“Just because your first terraforming job was a flop, doesn’t mean you get to be jealous of my experience.”

Zackh sputtered.

“I’m not jealous! Who cares how many planets you’ve been to, or terraformed, or whatever! Forget this, I’m leaving before you start spouting some ‘save the coral’ nonsense.”

He left in a huff.

Liyla sighed and sat back down to take her fins off. Everyone was partnered up to map and terraform the land, so it made sense for a senior terraformer to be paired with a newer one. It didn’t mean she had to like her partner though. 

“Beginning planetary decent. Estimated time to landing: one hour, thirty minuets.”

“Thanks Ali,” Liyla mumbled as she finally got her fins off. “An hour and a half till I have to put up with Zackh for who knows how long.”

She was about to get into the changing room when and explosion wracked the ship. Liyla was thrown roughly against the wall, and barely managed to stay standing. Sirens started blaring, and she could hear people running around frantically. She raced into the hallway, no longer caring about her wetsuit. A technician ran by, and she quickly ran up to him.

“What’s going on?” she asked breathlessly.

“We got hit with some sort of energy pulse,” he panted as they ran, “completely took down shields and communications. I don’t know how long she’s gona last.”

Liyla’s blood ran cold. Was this what happened to the Degasi?

“The Aurora could explode at any moment,” the technician continued, “you need to get to an escape pod now!”

They both ran off in different directions. She knew the technician; he’s been on several of her trips. She also knew that there’s no way he’d leave the ship if he thought he could save it. 

She reached the escape pods and jumped in, noting that several have already been jettisoned. The Aurora was barely inside the planet’s atmosphere; the chances of a crash pod surviving were slim from this height. 

But as she slid down the ladder and jumped into the seat, she heard more explosions ripping through the ship. She didn’t hesitate to hit the launch button as soon as she was secure. As Ali counted down and the pod ejected, she looked over at the seat across from her. If she had waited a bit longer, could someone else have escaped with her? Bright lights from the Aurora answered her, and the ship exploded. If she had stayed a moment longer, the blast would have killed her. 

As it was, the shockwave and air resistance still manage to hit the pod hard, and emergency lights began to flash. A panel from the wall broke off and started to crash wildly around the enclosed space. Before Liyla could react, it hit her right in the face. Everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a short chapter, but consider it the prologue before the actual game starts. And I used the pre-existing names from the data logs to try and think of what to name the characters.  
> EDIT: finally fixed the spacing issue


	2. Chapter 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waking up to fire was never a good thing.

Liyla awoke to red lights and a fire right next to her. She pressed the release button, then smacked it when it wouldn’t respond. She lunged for the fire extinguisher rolling across the floor, and aimed it at the fire. The fire didn’t die down immediately, and she started to cough on the smoke.

She finally got the fire under control, and stored the fire extinguisher. Her PDA pulsed, and she brought it up. It began to boot up in emergency mode, prompting a speech from Ali;

“Greetings Survivor, great job not dying! To assist your further survival in emergency situations you have been issued this Personal Digital Assistant- the interface visible now- will organize inventory, display currently available construction blueprints and other valuable data. Take a moment to familiarize yourself with it.”

“Wow, ‘great job not dying’,” Liyla said as she swiped through her PDA. “And Zackh say you don’t have personality-“

Liyla froze. Was Zackh even still alive? Was anyone still alive? There were pods launched before she got there, but did they survive the impact?

She quickly climbed up the ladder, and looked out the top of the pod. The Aurora was smoldering some distance away, in very bad shape.

“Is anyone alive?” she whispered to herself.

Ali answered, "The Aurora Mining Vessel has suffered catastrophic hull failure. Cause: unknown. Zero human life signs detected in 100m range.”

Liyla pulled herself on top of the pod and sat down. There was no land as far as the eye could see, the only landmarks being the Aurora and her pod. She was alone, with no supplies, no resources, and virtually no hope of rescue. She put her head in her hands and cried.

Her PDA beeped.

“Environmental analysis complete. Zero clean sources detected. High priority: find means to purify drinking water.”

A pause, and then;

“Crying eliminates water from the body and increases dehydration rate. Advice; pull yourself together.”

Ok, so she wasn’t totally alone. Liyla wiped away her tears and climbed back into the pod.

“Time: 3 hours since planetfall. Life pod condition: hull secure. Communications: offline.”

Looking around, Liyla saw a medkit on the wall. She quickly applied it, as her health was rather low from the crash. There was also a storage compartment. Inside were some nutrient bricks, water, and flares. She decided to save the food and water for emergencies, which left her with only one option. She grabbed a mask, opened the hatch on the floor, and jumped into the ocean. 

“Environment: Uncharted ocean planet. Oxygen Nitrogen atmosphere. Water contamination: high.”

You didn’t need to tell her that. The water was pleasantly warm, and with the mask Liyla could see clearly. There were all sorts of fish swimming around her, but couldn’t remember their names off the top of her head. She did remember that many of them were edible.

Liyla began to swim around, grabbing some pieces of wreckage as she went. She might be able to use them later. She also grabbed some mushroom-like coral off a small reef. She doubted they were edible, but they might come in handy.

She started to feel lightheaded, and Ali chimed in.

“10 seconds of oxygen remaining.”

Liyla broke the surface and got her breath back.

“Ok, so I can hold my breath for about forty-five seconds now. Must be the planet’s gravity.”

Ali gave her and update on the Aurora.

“Detecting increased local radiation levels. Trend is consistent with ongoing degradation of the Aurora Mining Vessel’s dark matter drive core, due to damage sustained during the collision. Continuing to monitor.”

Well that wasn’t good. However, there was nothing she could do about it now.

She took a deep breath and dove back beneath the waves. There was a strange fish that looked like two perpendicular plates, with a strange eyestalk. She recognized it as a Garryfish, but more importantly, she knew it was edible. She grabbed it before it could swim away, as well as a few others.

She managed to grab a horseshoe-shaped fish, recognizing it as a Boomerang. She brought them all back to the pod and opened the fabricator. 

“Life pods are equipped with a fabricator programmed to construct tools, and render organic substances edible.”

Well she was glad for that, as she turned all the scrap metal she had found into titanium. Next up were the fish.

“It is normal to be repulsed by the thought of eating a dead animal. But it is best to remember, humans survived adequately without synthetic foods for many years. You can, too.”

It was a bit odd, Liyla had to admit. But she was glad to eat something, and noted that it helped with her thirst to. A glance outside told her that it was already night.

She dove back into the ocean after storing her titanium. She was going to run out of space quickly, perhaps she should look into a storage locker or something. She saw some quartz against a rock, and grabbed a bit. 

“Caution. Continued degradation of the Aurora’s drive core may cause a quantum detonation. if the drive core is breached, probability of death by exposure to radioactive crash site materials increases to 37%.”

So it might be a good idea to stay away from the ship, at least until she knew it was safe to visit. For now, she had to focus on food. She recognized an Airsack and Rabbit ray as they swam by. Rabbit rays were useless for food, but she knew Airsacks were edible, and could be a source of water. She grabbed one and went back to the pod.

“Warning. Local radiation readings exhibit characteristics consistent with total degradation of the Aurora’s dark matter drive core. A quantum detonation will occur with a probability of 85.5%. Advise observing a 1km safety range.”

Liyla didn’t worry much as the Airsack was converted to water. She knew that she was far enough away from the ship to be safe from the explosion.

After she drank the water, she looked through the recipes for the fabricator. She needed a weapon, and noticed that she only need rubber. A bit more searching, and she found that she needed creepvine pods for that.

Another dive into the ocean. She saw a weird fleshy orb attacked to a nearby rock. It was a floater, apparently. As she stored it, she noticed that it was already becoming daytime. As her PDA cracked, she decided to climb on top of the pod and look at the Aurora.

“Emergency: Seismic readings suggest a quantum detonation has occurred in the Aurora’s drive core. The reactor will reach a super critical state in T- 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1-“

Ali glitched out, and Liyla watched with fascinated horror as the Aurora exploded. Even if the scan had been wrong before, there were certainly no survivors now. She watched the burning wreckage for a moment, the went inside the pod. She stored her items, then went back into the ocean.

She still needed to find a creepvine pod for a knife. Creepvine was some sort of kelp-like plant, so she looked around for what would probably be a large leafy plant. She didn’t see any, but what she did see was a rather large creature. It looked a bit like a manatee, and it took Liyla a second to see that it was a Gasopod. They didn’t have anything she could use, and if she got to close they might drop gases. She steered clear of it.

Ahead, she could make out what looked to be a ravine. There were plenty of plants stretching up to the surface, so she assumed they must be creepvines. She was about to go over to one when she spotted another fish. It had a long snout full of teeth, and she instantly backpedaled far away. It was a Stalker, one of the few aggressive shallow-water fish discovered. 

The Stalker didn’t seem to notice her, and continued swimming among the vines. Liyla didn’t want to get to close to it, so she swam around the edge of the underwater forest. 

She saw yet another fish she could eat, a Hoverfish, and grabbed it. Variety in food was a good idea. 

She turned back to the forest. The Stalkers were lower now, and she could the seed pods on the inner vines. She treaded on the surface as she inched her way over to them. Before she could have second thoughts, she quickly dove down and grabbed some pods. Turning around, she saw that a Stalker might have seen her. She swam away before it could give chase.

On her way back, Liyla saw an egg resting on the sand beneath her. She grabbed it as well. She really would need to get more storage.

When she got back to the pod, she cooked the Hoverfish and made the knife.

“The knife has been an essential tool of the human race, for approximately two and a half… million years. It is recommended that you look after this one.”

Liyla now felt much safer, even if a tiny knife wouldn’t realistically help her much. She looked at her storage options, and was happy to see that she could build a waterproof locker with what she had.

One it was built, she placed it next to the pod’s storage. After organizing her items, she looked back to the fabricator.

Her next objective was fixing the communications inside the escape pod. She didn’t know how strong it was, but hopefully she could send a distress signal. There were supposed to be other ships landing in another part of the planet soon, and hopefully one of them would pick it up.

She needed a welder, and for that needed salt and ‘crash powder’. There was a creature called a Crash that lived inside a Crash Plant, so odds are crash powder could be found there. The salt should be easy enough to find.

~

As it turns out, Crashes did not like it when you got close to their plants. One medkit later and Liyla had her crash powder. However, salt was proving much harder to find. On top of that, the Hoverfish in her inventory had rotted, so she had to get more food.

As she looked for salt, Liyla noticed a clump of limestone on one of the rocks. She broke it with her knife, and a piece of copper fell out. More stuff to fill up her inventory. 

As the sun rose, she ended up back near a kelp forest, but something caught her eye. It was salt, finally! There were two pieces, and she hoped that would be enough.

Of course she needed three. Liyla groaned, it had taken her ages to find these two! 

As she continued to search, she decided to make a mental map of the nearby areas. If the ship was on her right, then in front of the pod would be a relatively flat area where Gaspods like to flock. Behind the pod was a more rugged area, and it was there Liyla finally found the third piece of salt she needed.

Back at the pod, she quickly made the welder and fixed the pod itself. Then, she went over to the communications relay. As soon as she fixed it, a message rang out.

"This is an automated bounce back from the Aurora Mining Vessel. Your distress signal has been received. An emergency relief team will be dispatched to your location.” There was a moment of static, and then, “Estimated arrival time: 9...9...9...9...9 hours"

Well, the Aurora was in no shape to send out help. Liyla could only hope that she could somehow contact another ship. 

Then she had a thought. If she could get inside the Aurora, with the welder, there might be a communications relay there she could repair. It would be far stronger than the one here, and she could get a fair amount of supplies while there.

First thing was first, she had to get a dive tank. On fabrication later, she could now hold her breath for much longer. 

The next issue was speed. She could build flippers, but she needed more creepervine pods for rubber. Off to the kelp forest again. 

An entire night had past while she had strategized, and Liyla figured the day/night cycle lasted about fifteen minutes here. That seemed like something she should have been briefed on before coming here.

The kelp forest was away from the ship, but there must have been more than one, because Liyla was sure she would have noticed a large chunk of the Aura before. There were Sand Sharks, another predatory fish, swimming around the forest, so she decided to check out the wreck.

There was nothing of interest inside, and Liyla was almost out of breath when she got out. The Sand Sharks had moved a bit away, so she darted in to grab some pods. She cut some creepervine off as well.

Back at the pod, Liyla discovered that she needed two more creepervine pods. She also got a notice from Ali.

“The fabricator draws from available date, to provide context-appropriate equipment, using locally available materials. For your safety this setting cannot be overwritten.”

That explains why she was just now finding out she could make a radioactive-safe suit. That would defiantly come in handy when she went to the Aurora. It looked like she needed batteries, which meant she needed a lot more copper. Hopefully she could grab some on her way back to the forest.

A quick trip to and from the forest provided Liyla with plenty of creepervine and pods, but no copper. She fabricated the fins, then went off to find more copper.

It was night by the time she found enough, and those acid mushrooms finally came in handy. She was completely full, and in no danger of dehydration, so she made the suit and prepared to set off for the Aurora.

Just then, the communications relay beeped with a new message.

"You've been down too long in the midnight sea. Oh don't you see what I mean?"

Her blood ran cold. The voice was not Ali’s, and it sounded very wrong. It meant that there was someone, or something, intelligent enough to contact her. She didn’t know whether that was a good thing.

She still had to go to the Aurora, creepy messages or not. She started swimming. She passed over another kelp forest, and some deep looking trenches, before she got close to the ship. It was already becoming day, and Liyla was glad for the extra light. 

She skirted the side of the ship, looking for an entrance. There were Sand Sharks all over the place, and she had to be careful to avoid them. She neared one end of the ship, where the close ground sudden fell down. It made her uneasy, her childhood paranoia of the open ocean playing up again. She still couldn’t get inside, and was turning around when she saw it.

An incredibly large blue tail disappeared behind a rock in the distance. Liyla’s breath caught in her throat. She prayed it was her imagination, that the largest predator discovered on this planet, the Reaper Leviathan, was not between her and the pod. She slowly stared to swim back, keeping the ship close to her left so she could dive underneath it if need be. She heard a roar, and saw the monster charging from her right.

She swam as fast as she could, diving in a small gully. Looking up, Liyla couldn’t see it anymore, and hoped that it was gone. 

There was a supply crate on a ledge and she went over to it. Inside was a signal, something she would have to check out later.

She turned around, and the Reaper was not two yards from her. Liyla booked it, ignoring the Sand Sharks beneath her. She didn’t slow down until she could no longer see the Aurora under water, and grabbed another signal and some water from supply crates.

She ended up returning to the pod from a different direction, and found a flock of sunfish-looking creatures.

“Who the heck named an entire species Reginald,” she muttered as she grabbed some.

Back at the pod, Liyla came up with a plan. There was no way she could outswim the Reaper, so she would have to out-maneuver it with some sort of vehicle. Unfortunately, the fabricator couldn’t build anything like that. 

“Any advice Ali?” She called up at the ceiling.

“A Scanner can be used to acquire blueprints, that will then be uploaded to the fabricator. Many fragments would be found after the Aurora’s crash. Some of these blueprints contain information on various vehicles, like the Seaglide and Seamoth.”

Liyla nodded. So this was her next objective. She had no idea how many of these fragments she needed, but she doubted it would be easy.

“Well, better get to work!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, this was a lot longer than expected. I don't know if the future chapters will be this long.
> 
> Also, almost everything in this story will be based off my playthrough of the game (save for a few of Ali's comments), in order to make it realistic. Just so you know.


	3. Chapter 3

Luckily, Liyla had plenty of titanium and a spare battery, so she made the scanner immediately. There was a surprising amount of fragments nearby, and Liyla had all the information she needed on the Seaglide before dawn. She also found enough fragments to discover the Solar Panel, but she didn’t know what it could be used for. She found another egg on the seafloor, and decided to grab it.

Back at the pod, Liyla found she had just enough copper for the Seaglide, but she needed more lubricant. She headed back to the kelp forest. 

Liyla had discovered that the best tactic for avoiding the Stalkers was to swim at the surface until she was just above a vine with pods, then quickly dive down and grab some. It seems that most predators liked to swim closer to the bottom, but she was careful to keep an eye out. She grabbed a pod with no troubles, and headed back. 

Liyla went to make the lubricant, but realized that she needed three creepvine pods, not the one she had grabbed. She groaned with impatience, then went back out. She didn’t bother to swim at the surface, instead charging strait for the orange clusters. As such, Liyla didn’t see the Stalker until it swam up right in from of her.

Liyla backpedaled immediately, slashing her knife wildly. She managed to get a solid slash on the carnivore, and it backed off. She was still incredibly wary, so she swam around the outskirts of the kelp until she found a cluster on the edge. Liyla grabbed the two pods she needed and headed back to her craft. She returned without incident, and crafted the Seaglide. 

“The Seaglide increases maximum underwater velocity to 9.5m/s, and displays local topographical information.”

The Seaglide was pretty fast, and Liyla spent the rest of the day trying to catch more Airsacks. As nighttime approached, she discovered a large drop off. Before she could investigate, the Seaglide ran out of power. 

Liyla was suddenly aware of how far she had traveled from her base, and now she had no light. It took her a while to get back, and she promised herself that she would keep an extra battery with her from now on. 

After turning her captured Airsacks into drinkable water, Liyla saw there was another option in the fabricator. It took salt and coral, and looked much easier than hunting down the speedy Airsacks. 

She had some salt left from her exploration, and after accidentally grabbing the wrong coral, finally had a plentiful supply of water. She made a second locker as well, since she was running out of space fast. 

Liyla was worried that if she didn’t find a way off this planet soon, she would have to make a more permanent residence. She shook her head to dispel such thoughts.

“No, I **am** getting out of here. Once I get to the Aurora, everything will be fine.”

Grabbing some spare batteries, the welder, first aid kits, and extra food and water, Liyla headed for the ship. 

~

It took Liyla a while to find an entrance to the ship. She went back and forth along the hull until she finally dove underneath, and found a hole in the bottom. She wove her way through the ship’s inner workings, completely losing track of which way was up.

She surfaced in the ship’s generator room, which was half filled with water.

“Aura blackbox device found. Attempting to download. Encountering interference. Warning, radiation at maximum tolerable level.”

Luckily she had the radiation suit. She climbed up to the main control panel and took a look. Most of the batteries were fried, but she did grab a Cyclops power module. 

“Checking drive core damage against Aurora impact velocity. Calculations suggest collision was of insufficient magnitude to cause a core breach.”

Well that was odd. What else could have damaged the ship?

Liyla then noticed the hole in one of the radiation chambers. She took out her welder, and tried to fix the damage. To her surprise, it worked.

Ali told her there were ten more damaged spots, so she went to work. Most of them were easy to find, and luckily none were out of reach. 

Liyla was treading water, looking for anymore spots, when something landed on her. She instantly felt scorching heat and dove underwater. Looking up, she saw molten debris falling from a gash in the ceiling. She needed to keep a better eye on her surroundings.

After she fixed the final hole, Ali informed her that the ship would be radiation free in three days. She also had another message regarding the blackbox.

“Assessing internal damage. Damage pattern inconsistent with internal malfunction. Aurora blackbox device not found.”

Even more strange news. The missing blackbox could be due to the fact that half the ship was missing, but it really seemed like the ship wasn’t brought down because of the explosion. 

Liyla didn’t know what was worse; either someone on the Aurora had sabotaged the ship, or something from the planet had purposely brought it down. Suddenly the message she had received several days ago seemed much more threatening. 

She headed out the hallway behind her. Everything was on fire, and many of the passageways were blocked off by debris.

“87% of the habitable sections of the ship were rendered uninhabitable during the detonation,” Ali chimed in.

“Any chance of reaching that 13%?” Liyla asked as she found a pressure compensator. “There might be something useful there.”

“Negative,” Ali responded, “Fire and debris prevent much of the Aurora from exploration.”

So Liyla’s only option was to continue forwards. She emerged on an outcropping of metal, and saw out of the shredded half of the Aurora. 

“Detecting an extended debris field.”

Liyla darted her way around the spider-like crabs (she thought they were called Cave Crawlers), and got a good view of the ocean. She could see the debris Ali was talking about. It really looked like half of the ship had been blown off, which explained the supply crates and other wreckage strewn about. 

A sharp pain in her leg brought Liyla focus back to the present. A Cave Crawler had lunged at her, and she instinctively took a step back. This brought her to the very edge of the ship, and she realized just how high up she was. She tried to get away from the edge, but one unsteady step made her slip and plunge off the ship. 

~

As she fell through the air, the only thought on Liyla’s mind was that she knew a Reaper lived around here. She hit the water and instantly started swimming towards the nearest bit of ship. She hauled herself up and caught her breath.

“Warning, structural integrity unknown. Exploration is not advised.”

“Now you tell me,” Liyla muttered.

She continued to catch her breath a safe distance from the water. The sun had already set, but the fires gave her enough light to see by.

“Trace human remains detected in nearby organics’ digestive systems. Further exploration not advised.”

Liyla didn’t want to think about what happened to her former crew mates’ bodies. She made her way back up the ship, collecting items from crates and fighting off Cave Crawlers the entire time. By the time she was back at the top, she was so injured that she had to use one of her med kits. The nanobites made short work of her many cuts and bruises, leaving barely a trace. 

She retraced her steps back inside the ship, and saw that there really was no other path. She exited the Aurora the same way she entered, and looked out at the dark sea. Liyla could hear a Reaper roaring in the distance. Not wanting a repeat of last time, she began to head home.

As she crossed over a valley next to the Aurora, Liyla heard the Reaper roar again, only this time it was much closer. She looked down in time to see a gaping red and blue maw, and then sharp pains in her sides.

The Reaper had stabbed her with its mandibles, and blood was leaving her body fast. Liyla didn’t have time to apply a med kit, and activated the Seaglide again, praying it could outrun the monster. She could feel the Leviathan swimming behind her. 

Her grip on the Seaglide began to slip, and Liyla could feel darkness creeping in on the side of her vision. She needed air, but when she surfaced she was unable to take a breath. The Reaper had pierced her lungs, and she could still hear it roaring behind her. She held onto the Seaglide tighter, willing it to reach the pod before she blacked out. 

All her focus was on staying conscious, and she nearly swam under the pod. Liyla clambered inside and fumbled for the first aid dispenser, hastily applying it. The nanobites activated, and as soon as they fixed her lunges Liyla took a deep breath. 

She immediately doubled over and coughed up fluid. She looked at her hand, and her head swam as she realized that she had coughed up a frighteningly large amount of blood. 

“You have lost approximately two liters of blood,” Ali said, reading Liyla’s vitals. “It is advised that you remain calm and slowly lie down. Do not engage in any activities that increase heart rate.”

Two liters… That was twenty percent of her blood? Or was it forty? Liyla’s head hurt, and she realized that lying down might be a good idea. She was already on the ground, and she didn’t remember sitting down.

She blacked out before she hit the floor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, it's been three months, two game updates, and I have zero excuses. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things, and at least get a chapter a month, hopefully more.


	4. Hiatus

So I know it's been ages since I updated this, but with the game continuously updating and changing the story it's hard for me to keep up. Plus the fact that I want to go back and re-write these chapters, Respect For The Sea is going on hiatus. Whenever the full game is released, I'll come back to this.  
I promise, I do have a story planed out but I have to see if it's going to change with the updates. I just wanted to let you guys know so I don't leave you hanging.


End file.
